Lemon
Masculine · “the lemon fruit”
Lemon is given to both — 1,071 boys and 359 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Lemon is a word name that has been given quietly for over a century and is being given again now. The fruit behind it has a better claim on history than most: it settled the first controlled medical trial ever run, and then it lent its name to everything that does not work properly.
How old is the name Lemon?
Lemon first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Lemon alive today was born around 1926, making them about 99 years old. About 200 people named Lemon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lemon most popular?
Lemon peaked in 1902, reaching #556 nationally. See the whole 1902 chart.
Where it comes from
From Persian limun reaches English through Arabic and French to Lemon
The story of Lemon
In 1747 a naval surgeon called James Lind took a dozen sailors with scurvy on a ship in the Channel, put them all on the same diet, and gave six different pairs six different supposed remedies — cider, vinegar, seawater, a purgative, sulphuric acid, and two oranges and a lemon. The pair with the citrus recovered so fast that one was fit for duty within a week. It is the first controlled clinical trial in the modern sense: same conditions, one variable, a comparison group. The Navy then took forty-eight years to act on it, and when it did it chose limes instead, which have less of what actually works, which is why British sailors are called limeys and not lemons.
Meaning
the lemon fruit
The word traveled to English from Persian through Arabic, Italian and French, arriving in the Middle Ages when the fruit itself was a luxury import. Its second English sense — a thing that turns out to be defective, particularly a car — is American and dates from the early twentieth century, which is almost exactly when the name first appears in the record. The two senses have been running alongside each other ever since, and the second one is now much the louder.
How the name formed
- Persian limun reaches English through Arabic and French
- a naval surgeon runs the first controlled trial in 1747
- American slang turns a lemon into a dud
- used as an American given name from the 1910s
- given again in small numbers today
Related forms: Limone · Limun · Lemmon
Pronouncing Lemon
LEM-un
Two syllables, stress at the front, exactly like the fruit. There is no other reading and no ambiguity of any kind.
Nicknames for Lemon
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 193028 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #556reached in 1902
- Change vs 1987
- 0.0%5 in 1992, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Lemon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Limone in French — related form
- Limun in Persian — related form
- Lemmon in English — spelling variant
Lemons among us
people named Lemon are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Lemon sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is a plain English word that everybody can spell and say without being told.
- It works for a child of either sex, and the record carries it on both sides.
- Lem is a real and rather good short form with an American history behind it.
- In American English a lemon is something that does not work, and that sense is now the dominant one.
- Word names carry the whole word, including the parts of it used as insults.
- It has never been common, so there is no established model for how it wears.
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What they receive
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Lemon
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Lemons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Lemon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lemon in 2025?
- Lemon is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Lemon with classmates?
- Lemon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Larry#1084 · Lawrence#518 · Louis#249 · Logan#53 · Liam#1 · Lucas#10 · Luke#33 · Leonard#637
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lemon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lemon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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